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The Eagles played their first concert in 51 years without Joe Walsh in January after the guitarist was struck down by the flu. Vince Gill, who joined the Eagles in 2017 after the death of Glenn Frey, reports that the band had considered all options – including canceling the show at the Sphere in Las Vegas, including some of Gill’s songs in the set or having him cover Walsh’s hits. They decided on the latter, and Gill added his own melodic touch to Walsh classics like “Life’s Been Good” and “In the City.”
However, one man did not agree with this at all. In a new interview on the ROLLING STONE podcast Nashville Now, Gill says he was loudly shouted down by a disgruntled fan. “I had a guy to my right giving me hell. He was so angry that Joe wasn’t there and he took it out on me,” Gill says.
Even Don Henley, who came out from behind his drum kit early in the night to greet the audience, was left feeling fat.
Henley silences the troublemaker
“Don came out to talk for the first time. We had played three songs, Joe obviously wasn’t there, and then some guy yells, ‘Where’s Joe?!'” Gill remembers. “Don looked at him and said, ‘Shut up and I’ll tell you.'”
Eventually, the other Eagles fans had enough of the troublemaker, as Gill reports. “At some point the audience turned against him,” he says. “A guy in the audience… grabbed him and said, ‘If you don’t shut up, I’m going to punch you.'”
The Eagles continue their residency at the Sphere with Gill and Walsh into April. There are also a number of tour appearances coming up in May, including the New Orleans JazzFest and Vanderbilt University’s FirstBank Stadium in Nashville.
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ROLLING STONE’s weekly country podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by Senior Music Editor Joseph Hudak, is available to download and subscribe to on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you listen to your podcasts). New episodes appear every Wednesday and include interviews with artists and personalities such as Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Kings of Leon, the Black Crowes, Carly Pearce, Breland, Bryan Andrews, Devon Gilfillian, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Ink, Jay Buchanan from the Rival Sons, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show, Clever and authors Marissa R. Moss, Josh Crutchmer and Jonathan Bernstein.
